Last weekend, I posted how we decided to go to a cash system on our monthly budget. The ease with which we transitioned really inspired me to take it a step further. Since we were no longer overspending on groceries and eating out, I thought it was time to step it up a notch.

When we read Dave Ramsey’s book last year, we decided to start on our debt snowball. It didn’t work out so well. Because we hadn’t yet gone to the envelope system, we were still overspending and not putting any extra money on credit cards. I had gotten a handle on seeing where our money was going, but was still failing at spending less, which meant still not paying down debt. And we were still using our credit cards. Big no-no.

If you know me, you know that I’m not a big New Year’s Resolution person. I stopped making them because I never stick with them. This year, the timing of our decisions about our financial future coincided with the New Year but I decided that these are for-life resolutions. We really needed to make major changes, especially with me quitting my job to stay home with the girls.

This brings us to the next big change we made. Stop using credit cards. No matter what. This is a big deal for us because we like to travel, so we always put our plane tickets on a card. Or if we thought something might not fit into the budget for that month, we’d just put it on a card.

No more safety net. We have our emergency fund to fall back on, and we are trusting that God will provide. We have been tested on this, but we’re sticking to it.

So we’ve converted to the envelope system and made a commitment to stop using credit cards completely. Huge steps for us. Next week I’ll explain the next step in our financial makeover, the biggest one yet!